Flat warp knitting machine and guide needles therefor



Aug. 4, 1970 w. PALANGE 3,

FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFDR Filed June 7. 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1

Aug. 4, 1970 W. PALANGE FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR Filed June 7. 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 a mu m3 H vg/E W. PALANGE Aug. 4, 1970 3,522,716-

FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE'AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR Filed June 7. 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 mm Nm 1970 w. PALANGE 3,522,716

FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR Filed June 7. 1968 3 9 Sheets-Sheet 4.

w. PALANGE 3,522,716

FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 7. 1968 w. PALANGE. 3,522,716

FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR 9 sheets-sheet 6 Filed June 7. 1968 g- 1970 w. PALANGE 3,522,716

FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR.

Filed June 7, 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet 7 Aug. 4, 1970 w. PALANGE 3,522,716

FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR Filed June 7. 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet a .35 F1g.l0a I 135" I64 Fig. [0b I6 (/29 Aug. 4,- 1970 w. PALANGE 3,522,716.

FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR.

Filed June 7. 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 Fig. 10d "K 1.35" 00 I Fig. me o\ m8 United States Patent 3,522,716 FLAT WARP KNITTING MACHINE AND GUIDE NEEDLES THEREFOR Walter Palange, Oisterwijk, Nordbrabant, Netherlands, assignor to Jean Gusken, Dulken, Rhineland, Germany Filed June 7, 1968, Ser. No. 735,405 Claims priority, application Germany, June 7, 1967,

Int. Cl: D04b 23/02 U.S. CI. 66-87 17 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A flat warp knitting machine with two rows of curved guide needles, facing each other, swivelable around parallel axes and transposable in relation to one another along said axes for producing a links-links warp knitted fabric through reciprocal takeover of stitches. Two sinker combs are movable back and forth in the longitudinal direction of guide needles with the fabric and guide the fabric between them, through that comb which lags the sloughing of the stitches. A pressure exerted at the end of the knitted fabric tightens the stitches. The heads of the guide needlescontain needle holes. The rows of guide needles are arranged to swivel such that the needle heads of one row of needles are continuously directed essentially in parallel to the oppositely directed needle heads of the other row of needles.

BACKGROUND-FIELD OF THE INVENTION BACKGROUNDDESCRIPTION ART The flat warp knitting machines of this type can operate without guiding agents for the thread, such as hooks OF THE PRIOR or latch needles. However, one must then take care that P the guide needles of the one row of needles which form a new row of stitches seizes only those warp threads running from the needle holes of the other row of needles and vice versa. A seizing of the threads entering from the warp beams into the holes of the needles would definitely lead to a breaking of the thread.

To facilitate the takeover of the existing warp threads through the needle heads of the opposing row of guide needles, it has been proposed heretofore to use guide needles made of flat material, which are blunt and bent pointing toward each other (instead of pointed). This was thought to be ideal where the warp threads running from the transversely directed needle holes of a row of needles, to the last row of stitches tightly enclosing the shafts of this row of needles freely penetrate the curvature of the needles located between them like the cord of an arc. These freely bent sections of thread are seized early in the transposing movement by the heads of the opposing row of needles. In order to prevent these needles from also seizing the sections of the warp threads entering the needle hole it was necessary to provide very large spacings of the needles, which resulted in a very rough fabric. Also, the thrust motion of the guide needles taken over by the sharp pointed needles, upon which a slight pendulum movement was superimposed for an improved sloughing of the stitches, permitted only a low knitting speed because of the great forces due to gravity that were to be expected.

In one attempt to eliminate danger of seizing the incoming warp threads in the case of machines which have become more known recently, needles were made with a U- or a pipe profile, which receives the incoming thread and protects it up to its exit from the hole of the needle. Also, in the case of these known machines, the rows of needles do not execute any thrust movements, but exclusively swiveling movements around parallel axes. The U-profile and the pipe profile still results, however, in a relatively large spacing of needles, and the pure swiveling movements require great angles of transverse for the assurance of a faultless sloughing of stitches, which, in turn, prevent an effective increase in the operational output.

According to a recent proposal, it is possible to achieve a considerably finer spacing of the needles by making the needle head with a needle hole formed from a prolonged sidewall of the needle shaft which is profiled sidewall of the needle shaft which is profiled U-shaped, and by making the length of the needle shaft such that during the knitting only the needle head passes through the paths between the needle shafts of the opposite row of needles. However, the angles of traverse, which remained large in order to assure sloughing of the stitches, still impedes the speed of knitting. Further, the continuous change between tension and loosening of the drawn off fabric prevents a greater density of the fabric corresponding to a closer spacing of the needles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the purpose of the invention to produce a firmer and hence a greater density at a higher knitting speed.

According to the present invention this purpose is solved by providing two sinker combs which are movable back and forth together with the fabric in a transverse direction of the row of guide needles and guiding said produced fabric between them, through that comb which happens to be lagging the sloughing of the stitches. This can be achieved positively and a pressure can be exerted at the end positions on the fabric which would tighten the stitches counter to the tension of the thread.

The invention is of particular importance in the case of the production of knitted fabrics with filling yarns which are tied up into the stitches across the entire width of the fabric. The pressure exerted by the sinker combs in their end positions on the knitted fabric, in combination with the counteracting thread tension, firmly holds the filling yarns so that with the machine according to the invention a very firm clothlike fabric can be produced. At the same time, the swiveling movement of the rows of guide needles can be chosen to be very small, which makes possible a considerable increase in the kniting performance.

According to another feature of the invention, the sinker combs are arranged on jointly swivelable sinker bars, the ends of which are attached to swiveling levers which can be swivelled around an axis located in the plane of symmetry and parallel to the swiveling axes of the rows of needles. To adjust the sinker bars precisely, and to adapt their position to varying conditions of the thread material treated and of the knitted fabric produced, the ends of the sinker bars, in the case of a preferred design of the invention, can be shifted in tangential guides of the swiveling levers can be held in any desired shifting position with the help of screws penetrating through elongated holes in said swiveling levers.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improvement in knitting.

It is another object of this invention to provide an arrangement in a flat warp knitting machine wherein the needles in opposing rows may be spaced closer together without undesired seizing of the thread before the needle hole.

Other objects and the attendant advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description to follow together with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to a preferred embodiment as shown in the drawing by way of example, whereby further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent.

FIG. 1 shows a perpendicular section through a linkslinks warp knitting machine in the area of the knitting tools.

FIG. 2 shows a section of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale and turned clockwise by 30.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a part of a needle bar with the guide needles attached to said bar in actual size, and wherein the parts, lying one on top of the other, have been broken away at varying lengths.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along line IV-IV in FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a cross section through the shaft of a guide needle, taken along line VV in FIG. 4, but shown on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal section through a swing bearing of the sinker combs, taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a top view of the machine obliquely from above taken along line VII-VII in FIG. 1, wherein the chains of the shooting-in arrangement for the filling are shown schematically.

FIGS. 8a to 80 are symbolic drawings of the vertical movements (as reviewed in FIGS. 9a to f) of the guide needles, the forward movement of the rear guide needle bar from a reference position, and the traverse movement of the sinker combs, respectively.

FIGS. 9a to 9 show one guide needle each of the front and rear rows of the needles, as well as the sinker combs, in various working positions during one-half revolution of the main shaft of the machine.

FIGS. 10a to 10 show various stages in the operation of the device for shooting in the filling yarn of the warp knitting machine according to the invention during two revolutions of the main shaft of the machine.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the present invention as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the warp knitting machine of the preferred embodiment has a machine frame 10, which in the conventional manner has two parallel frame walls connected by several bars, between which walls there are two warp beams 11, 12 as well as the knitting tools and between which the finished knitted fabric is drawn off.

A first needle bar is articulated to a bar 13 through a stationary axis and slidable to a limited degree. The bar 13 is U-shaped in its cross section and has several axial thrust joints 14, distributed along its length. The bar 15 is located in front (when viewed from the operating side of the machine which is the left side in FIG. 1). A second bar 16, U-s'haped in its cross section, is articulated to a rear needle bar 18 through an axis which has axial thrust joints 17. The bar 16 is swingable and axially slidable to a limited degree on said axis. The axial thrust joints 17 are not attached to the bar 13, as is the case with the first needle bar 15, but they are carried by connecting rods 19, which are slidable through the bar 16 within guide bushings 20. A spiral spring 21, mounted on each connecting rod 19, is supported between the guide bushing 20 and a disk 23 which, in turn, is secured by a resilient ring 22. A cam follower roller 24, mounted at the other end of the connecting rod 19, continuously rests on a cam disk 26 which is mounted on cam shaft 25.

During operation and in a manner wh ch Will be explained in more detail further below, this cam causes the bar 18 to be moved periodically and by a small amount toward the front needle bar 15 and back again.

The needle bars 15, 18 comprise magnesium profiles, whose free ends are directed essentially towards each other. Each needle bar 15, 16 carries a row of guide needles 27, 28 respectively. The guide needles 27, 28, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, are not attached to the needles in the usual manner but are inserted into spaced apart recesses 29 in needle beds 30. The needles are kept in place with the help of a number of covers 31 which are attached above the needle beds 30 with the help of screws 32 on the needle bar. Preferably, the separating seams between the covers 31 run obliquely in relation to the guide needles to assure that all guide needles are covered by the covers 31.

As FIG. 5 shows, each guide needle 27, 28 has a shaft 33 having a U-shaped profile above, which is followed by the needle head 35, and the needle shaft 33, aside from being straight, has two approximately equally large opposing curvatures 36, 37 limited to relatively short areas, through which the needle head 35 attains a position parallel to shaft 33 and staggered toward the top in relation to the needle shaft 33. This parallel staggering corresponds approximately to half the swiveling path through which the needle head 35 passes in a perpendicular direction during the stitch formation.

The warp threads 38, 39, as shown in FIG. 1, after arriving from the warp beams 11, 12, are fed to the guide needles 27, 28 via thread tensioning rockers 40, 41 and guide rolls 42, 43. The warp threads running freely across the cover 31 are guided, as shown in FIG. 4, for needles 27, by two lengthwise staggered eyes 44 and 45 along guide wires 46, 47 inserted in the profile sides of the needle shaft 33 into the inside to the needle shaft profiled in a U-shape. The wires thus serve as guides for the warp threads up to the needle heads 35 and prevent the portion of the Warp thread between shaft 33 and needle eye 34 from being seized by a needle 28 passing between the needle shafts 33 at needles 27. Such seizure would lead to an immediate break in the thread.

The swinging movements of the needle bars 15, 18 around the swinging axes on which are formed the axial thrust joints 14, 17, are controlled by cam disks, which are arranged on two main shafts 48 and 49 extending below the bars 13, 14. The main shafts 48, 49 mounted in a known manner in the walls of the machine frame 10, are driven from the same driving source (not shown) as the cam shaft 25 and at the same rotational speed. Such driving source would be located outside the walls of the frame 10. The main shafts 48, 49 each carry several pairs of cam disks 5051 and 52-53, distributed over its length. Each pair of cam disks is enclosed by a box 58, 59 mounted on square pipe bars 54-55 and 56-57, in which box a three-armed compensating lever 60, 61 has been mounted to be swingable around a bearing axis 62, 63. Two arms of each compensating lever 60, 61 extending in opposite peripheral directions along the surface of the cam disks carry follower rollers 64, 65 and 66-67 on opposite sides, which roll, one each on the cam disks 5051 and 52-53 and continuously contact their respective cam surface. The swinging movement of the compensating levers 60, 61 is thus dependent upon the shape and rotation of the cam disks.

The free third arm of each compensating lever 60, 61 is articulated to a bearing block 74, 75, which blocks are screwed to the undersides of the sides of the needle bars 15, 18 carrying the needle beds 30, via coupling links 72, 73 which are provided at both of their ends with ball joints 68-69 and -71, the length of which couplings are preferably adjustable. The ball joints 68 69 and 70-71, together with the axial thrust joints 14, 17 make possible the staggering movement of the needle bars 15 and 18 required for knitting, which movement is controlled in a known manner by a staggering arrangement placed outside one frame wall of the machine frame 10 at a certain relationship to the swinging movement of the rows 27, 28 of guide needles, and brought about by the cam disks 50-51 and 5253. Since such staggering arrangements are well known per se, a more detailed description is not thought to be necessary.

Between the boxes 58, 59 for the cam disks there is a fabric removing arrangement comprising two delivery rolls 76 and 77, as well as two pressure rolls 78 and 79 for the knitted fabric 80 produced by the guide needles 27, 28. The fabric winds around the delivery rolls 76 and 77 between the upper pressure roll 78. The delivery rolls 76, 77 are driven positively. The pressure rolls 78, 79 have been mounted to be shifted towards and away from each other. The pressure roll 78 is drawn by the material 80 winding around it, into the wedge-shaped gap between the delivery rolls 76 and 77. However the pressure roll 79 is pressed against the delivery rolls 76, 77 by the force of a spring (not shown).

As becomes clear in FIG. 6, at the reduced cross-section ends of the delivery roll 76, a supporting lever 83 has been rotatably mounted on ball bearings 81, 82. Annular covers 84, 85, which are screwed to the ends of a hub formed on the supporting lever, hold the outside ball races of the ball bearings 81, 82 in position against spring rings 83, 84 inside a bore 86 in the hub. The inside ball races of the ball bearings '81, 82 are held in 1 position between a shoulder shaped section 71 at the reduced end of the delivery roll 76 and a casing 88 fixed by a clamp screw 87 on the delivery roll 76.

The free ends of the supporting levers 83, strengthened on the outside by ribs, as shown in FIG. 6, have been broadened in the shape of a hammer in the tangential direction about the axis of roll 76 (see FIG. 2) and across their entire width they have a projection 89, projecting toward the other lever 83, the flat upper side 90 of said projection directed tangentially and serving as a guide surface for two singer bars 90, 91 which have an angular shape in their cross section. The sinker bars 90, 91 have been attached at their front sides to the supporting levers 83 by means of screws 92, 93, which penetrate through an elongated slot 94 extending almost across the entire hammer-shape broadening of the supporting lever 83. By loosening screws 92, 93, it is possible to change the spacing between the sinker bars 90, 91 within awide range.

Sinker comb leads 97, 98 are attached by screws 95, 96 to the outsides of the upward directed sides of the sinker bars 90, 91, into which the sinkers 99 (FIG. 6) have been inserted with the same spacing as with the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles. The sinkers 99' form two sinker cams 100, 101 running toward each other at a transverse distance from each other, between which the drawn off fabric 80 is guided. The outside bevelled edges of the sinker bars 90, 91 have been rounded in order to prevent damage to the fabric passing between them.

The entire sinker comb arrangement is driven through cam discs (not shown), which are located in pairs outside the cam disks 50, '51 on the front main shaft 48 and which have associated therewith three-armed compensating levers in the same manner as the cam disks 50, 51. Part of the outline of such a compensating lever 103 can be recognized in FIG. 1 behind the compensating lever 60. The compensating levers 103 are each connected through a coupling 102 with a second arm of the compensating lever 83 developed as toggle levers. Special ball bearings at the ends of the couplings, as in the case of the couplings 72, 73, are unnecessary in the case of conplings 102 since the sinker cam arrangement, differing from the needle bars, does not execute an axial stagger movement.

As becomes clear particularly in FIGS. 2 and 7, a base plate 104 of a hollowed out U-shape (when viewed from above as in FIG. 7), and which has its sides directed forward, rests on the frame walls 105, 106 of the machine. The plate 104 extends on three sides around the rows 27. 2 8 of guide needles at about the height of the upper sides of the needle bars 15, 18. A number of chain sprockets are mounted in the base plate 104 around which two endless chains 107 and 108 are wound to follow a path corresponding to the U-shape of the plate. The chain 107 extends with its strands 109 and .110 guided essentially in parallel from one driving wheel 111, located in the middle of the right-hand side of the base plate, following the shape of the base plate 104 around wheels 112, 113, 114, 115, as well as an intermediate wheel 116, to a tension wheel 117, located at the front end of the left-hand side of the base plate 104. The chain 108 also extends with its strands 118, 119 essentially parallel and outside of chain 107 and following the same general course, from a driving wheel 120, located in the middle of the left-hand side of the base plate, and around wheels 121, 122, 123, 124 and intermediate wheels 125, .126 to a tension wheel 127, located at the front end of the right-hand side of the base plate. Through different positions of the driving wheels and of the tension wheels on the sides of the base plate, a. staggering of the two chains 107, 108 will be achieved for a reason that will be explained below.

The driving wheels 111, are driven via driving shafts and gears, not shown here, at such a ratio to the main shafts 48, 49 of the machine that during two revolutions of the main shafts the chains will each revolve once in the path determined for it. by its sprocket wheels. The rotational directions of the driving wheels 111, 120 have preferably been selected in such a manner that the chains in the area where they wind around the driving wheels 111, 120 will move away from the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles, as indicated in FIG. 7 by arrows.

Chains 107 and 108 each carry on one of its links an upright driver 128, 129 (FIG. .2), which consists of a sheetmetal tongue beveled in an upward direction and riveted onto a chain link, the upward pointing part of said tongue having been constricted in the middle. The drivers 128, 129 have been shown arranged on chains 107, 108 in such a manner that after each half turn of the chain alternatingly (a) the driver 128 of the inside chain 107 will be located at the foremost position of the right-hand driving wheel 111, and (b) the driver 129 of the outside chain 108 will be located at the foremost position of the left-hand drive wheel 120. The position of the drivers at position (a) has been indicated in 'FIG. 7 by circles designated by 128' and 129, while the position (b) reached one-half rotation of the chain later has been indicated by circles designated by 128" or 129". At both points in time, the knitting tools are in the same position since the main shafts 48, 49 as well as the cam shaft 25 have executed a complete revolution in the meantime.

Two additional bars 130 and 131, U-shaped in their cross-section, carry the housing 132 of a filling yarn feed and exchange arrangement located at the upper rear part of the machine frame 10 and in the longitudinal center of the machine. On the open upper end of the housing 132 is a horizontal axis 133, on which a number, for example eight, thread feed levers 134 have been mounted. The front ends of the thread feed levers 134 contain vertically opening guide eyes 135 to which the filling yarns are fed from yarn supply bobbins 137 via a corresponding number of levers 136, which are resilient and which are likewise provided with eyes at their ends. The bobbins 137 are arranged on a bar 138- carried by the housing 132. The rear ends of the thread feed levers 134 are held by tension springs 139 against a corresponding number of control chains 140 which revolve around sprocket wheels 141, 142, 143, 144 inside the housing 132. Each one of the sprocket wheels 141, 142, 143, 144 is turned continuously via a driving connection, not shown, by the main drive of the machine. The links at various heights of the control chains are known per se, and for that reason are shown only schematically in FIG. 1. At certain times the links of chain 140 press against levers 134 to urge the front ends of the thread feed levers 134 downward in selected groupings, as will be explained subsequently with respect to FIGS. 10a to f. This movement of levers 134 moves the pertinent filling yarns into the path of revolution of the drivers 128, 129, which seize them and guide them in a manner described further below, to the rows 27, 28 of guide needles.

In order to avoid damage or fouling of the filling yarns seized by the drivers 128, 129, the chains may be covered up effectively by a protective plate, not shown, of the same general shape as base plate 104, which are provided With two circular slots in the shapes of chains 107, 108, through which penetrate the parts of the driver wheels pointing upwardly. The filling thread feed and exchange arrangement also includes four thread retarders 145, 146, 147, 148 (FIG. 7), arranged in pairs on the two front ends of the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles.

Referring to FIG. 2, each thread retarder includes a bar 149, bevelled at one end, and adjustably clamped in a bore in the upper end of a swiveling lever 150, by a screw 151. The swiveling lever 150 is mounted in a mounting block 153 which serves in common for two thread retarders each, by means of a bolt 152, said mounting block 153 being screwed onto the upper side of bar 13. The end of bar 149 remote from the bevelled end is adjustably clamped to thrust piece 155 by screw 154. The thrust piece includes a cam follower roller 156 at the end, which, under the effect of a spiral spring 157 acting between the bar 149 and the mounting block 153, is held against a cam disk 158. The cam disks 158 of all thread retarders are mounted on a common cam shaft 159, the ends of which are supported in the walls of the frame 105, 106, in a manner similar to that of the main shafts 48, 49 and the cam shaft 25. This shaft 159 is driven by the main drive of the machine. In contrast to the above mentioned shafts, however, the cam shaft 159 revolves at only half the speed, so that a revolution of the cam shaft 159 corresponds to one complete revolution of the chains 107, 108. The ends of the bars 149 of the thread retarders 145, 146, 147 and 148, which have been bevelled downwards, will dip, in the working position, as shown in FIG. 2, into the plane of the protective plate above chains 107, 108, and they are staggered in pairs in relation to one another in the direction of the guide needles, so that the bevelled ends of the inside thread retarders 146, 147, directly adjoining the guide needles, lie somewhat farther toward the rear of the machine and then the bevelled ends of the outside thread retarders 145, 148.

The cam disks 50-51 and 52-53 on the main shafts 48, 49 are shaped in such a manner that during one revolution of the main shafts the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles carry out movement in a vertical plane around the center line M as shown in the crank circle diagram according to FIG. 8a, which corresponds to a field of traverse across an angle of about 75 and thus is below half the angle of traverse of known machines of this type. Starting from the point in time P in which the front guide needles 27 assume their lowest position and the rear guide needles 28 their highest position, the two rows of needles approach each other between the points P and P through equally large traversing movements up to only a small vertical distance (as viewed in FIGS. 9a to 9 and maintain said distance by one or several spacings of the needle between the points P and P for the duration of the stagger movement of the rows of guide needles, which now takes place. Subsequently, row 27 of the guide needles is raised to the highest position at point P and row 28 of the guide needles is simultaneously lowered to the lowest position at the same point P whereby the needle heads reciprocally pass through the needle paths of the opposing row of guide needles at the point in time of crossing P After a prolonged dwell time, the course of movements described previously is repeated, from point P in a reverse order, through points P P and P to the point P Between P and P a staggering of the rows of guide needles again takes place in the longitudinal direction and at point P the needle heads pass through the needle paths of the opposing rows of needles in the opposite direction.

As the crank circle diagram according to FIG. 8c shows, the sinker combs 100, 101, during one such revolution of the main shafts 48, 49, move from a rear end position at the point in time P first of all evenly up to the point of crossing P into a middle position and, from there, with increased speed and without interruption, to the front end position, which they reach at a point in time P which is somewhat behind point P and which they maintain up to point P Then the same course of movement is repeated in the reverse direction via the middle position at the point of crossing P up to the rear end position in a point in time P which is somewhat behind point P As mentioned above, row 28 of guide needles, in addition to its traversing movement and its stagger movement, carries out a third periodic movement which comprises forward movement toward the front row 27 of guide needles. This movement is controlled by the cam disk 26 on the cam shaft 25. This forwardly directed movement is shown in FIG. 8b as a schematic indication of such a guide needle 28. It begins at point P between points in time P and P it reaches its front end position at the point of crossing P which it maintains for a short time up to the point P and then it returns again up to a point in time P behind point P into the rear end position. The same process is repeated from a point in time P between points P and P to points P and P and up to a point in time P which coincides with the end of the crank circle diagram and which corresponds to its starting point P The knitting process which results from these movements has been illustrated for the second half of the crank circle diagrams of FIGS. 8a, b and c in the FIGS. 9a to FIG. 9a shows the position of the guide needles 27, 28 and of the sinker combs 100, 101 within the area between the range of the points in time P and P The front guide needles 27 have been totally raised and the rear guide needles 28 have been completely lowered. The sinker combs 100, 101 stand completely in front, below row 27 of the guide needles. The knitted fabric 80, guided between the sinker combs 100, 101, is suspended from stitches 161, each of which form the last row of stitches formed from a warp thread 39, fed via a real guide needle 28 after it passes over the straight root sector of shaft 33 of a front guide needle 27. There the stitch 161 loops around the warp thread 38, running into the needle hole of the front guide needle row 27 and subsequently passing to the knitted fabric as stitch 162. This stitch 162 passes from the needle hole 35 freely like a cord below the bent guide needle 27 and, with the sector 163 of the warp thread 39 arriving from the needle hole of the rear guide needle 28 to the stitch 161, forms a knitting shed opened toward the rear, into which, during its opening, a filling yarn 164 can be shot in, in a manner explained in detail below.

The front guide needle 27, beginning with the point in time P is now lowered, the rear guide needle 28 is raised, and the sinker combs 100, 101 simultaneously move to the rear (that is, toward the right in relation to the series of FIGS. 9a to 1). At the same time, the fabric 80 is carried along by the lagging sinker comb 100, and the stitch 161 moves in the direction toward head 35 of this needle 27, on the back 165 of the front guide needles 27 or on the warp thread sector 166, where it runs in and is held in tension between the guide wire 47 and the needle hole 34 of this guide needle 27. At the point in time P the guide needles 27, 28 have approached each other to the point where the heads 35' of the rear guide needles 28 engage between the outcoming thread sections 162 of the front warp threads 38 whereby the shot in filling yarn 164 comes to lie below the head 35 of the rear guide needle 28. If heretofore the guide needle 28 is staggered relative to the point of view of FIGS. 9a to f, for example staggered rearwards by one half spacing of a needle in relation to the front guide needle 27, then, in the case of the staggering movement of the rear row of guide needles which now follows, the warp thread sector 162 emerging toward the viewer from the needle hold of the guide needle 27 is seized by the head 35' of the rear guide needle 28 and is forced away in a lateral direction by the front guide needle 27. This condition, which corresponds ap proximately to the point in time P according to FIGS. 8a, b and c, is shown in FIG. 9b.

From this position, the entire rear row 28 of guide needles is now shifted forward against the front row 27 of guide needles by cam disk 26 by a limited degree. With this shift, the upper curve 37' of the rear guide needle 28 is brought within the area of the needle hold 34 of the front guide needle 27, so that during the subsequent alternating passage of the needle heads through the needle paths at the point of crossing P which is shown in FIG. 9c, the new stitch 167, formed by the thread strand 162, immediately reaches the inclined back sector 168 of the rear guide needle 28 receiving said stitch, on which the stitch 167, upon the further upward transverse movement of the guide needle 28 to the root sector of the needle shaft, is moved on by the sinker combs 100, 101 as shown in FIGS. 9d and 3. The warp thread 164 is now tied up in the new stitch 167.

With the formation or take over of the new stitch 1 67, the preceding stitch 161 is sloughed by the rear sinker comb 100 from the head of the front guide needle 27. This positive sloughing of the stitch is brought about according to FIG. 9e especially by the fact that as the front guide needle 27 lowers, the lagging sinker comb 100' comes ever closer to the guide needles 27 and, finally, dips in between them, whereby it directly seizes the stitches which are to be sloughed.

In the further course of the transverse movement of the sinker combs 100, 101, the lagging sinker comb presses the new stitch 167 completely into the end position on the root sector of the guide needle 28, as shown in FIG. 9 and, indeed, counter to the tension of both warp threads 38 and 39 which, with their running thread strands 162 and 163, now form a knitting shed open toward the front.

Center line M has been drawn in FIGS. 9a to 9 to show the line around which the rows 27 and 28 of the guide needles with their needle holes are swung. By noting this center line M it becomes clear, that first of all the old stitch 161 and later on also the newly formed stitch 167, during their movement from right to left, for practical purposes, move always on this center line. This is a consequence of the movement of the stitch forced by the sinker combs 100, 101 and of the adaptation of the needle shape to the vertical movement (as viewed in FIG. 9a to f) of the guide needles 27, 28 in relation to the movement of the sinker combs 100, 101, as well as of the small angle of traverse of the guide needles forming or taking over the new row of stitches to be swung so far back that they finally exerted a pull on the knitted fabric which sloughed the old row of stitches. This necessitated large angles of traverse and brought about a very unsteady operation of the machine. In the case of the present invention, the stitches are sloughed by the lagging sinker comb, which simultaneously moves the newly formed stitches to the root section of the shafts of the row of needles which form the new stitches. Sloughing of the old row of stitches and forming of the new row of stitches, as a result of the present arrangement, takes place without jerks in a smooth movement, as a result of which the knitting speed can be increased considerably. At the end of the sinker comb movement, the lagging sinker comb acts similarly to a weaving comb and heats up the stitches with the shot in fill thread. As a consequence, a very dense and firm fabric is obtained.

The operation of the device for shooting in filling yarns is best understood with reference to FIGS. 10a to f, in which the chains 107, 108 have been shown simplified in their principal course. Furthermore, for a better understanding, only three filling yarns 164, 164' and 164" and, correspondingly, only three thread feed levers with their guide eyes 135, 135 and 135" are shown in the figures. The presentation of the guide eyes as a ring surrounding a white circular surface means that that particular feed lever is in its idle position according to the presentation in FIG. 1, in which the pertinent filling yarn has not been seized by the drivers 128, 129. If the ring is filled in with black, then the feed lever is pressed down by the pertinent control chain 140, and the pertinent filling yarn lies in the path of the drivers 128, 129. A corresponding characterization has been used for the bevelled bar ends of the thread retarders 145, 146, 147, 148 likewise drawn in merely as rings. If a thread retarder appears as a ring which is white inside, then it has been lifted, and it is therefore in an inactive position. If, on the other hand, the ring has been filled with black, then the thread retarder v will (lip with its bevelled bar end below the plane of the surface of the protective plate (not shown), which covers up the chains 107, 108, in the manner described above. The dot in the ring of the thread retarder 145 in FIG. indicates that this thread retarder is just being raised from its active position to its inactive position, while the X" in the ring of the thread retarder 146 in the same figure represents that a lowering of this thread retarder is just taking place. i

In FIG. 10a, all three guide eyes 135, and 135" of the thread feed lever are raised. The filling threads 164 and 1 64' extend from the guide eyes 135 and 135' to the left end of the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles, and there they are guided around the lowered outside thread retarder 145. The filling yarn 164 extends from guide eye 135" to the righthand end of the needle rows 27, 28 and there it is guided around the lowered inside thread retarder 147. The leading driver 129 of the outside chain 108 is just about to pass below the filling yarn 164.

Just as driver 129 has run under the filling yarn 164, the feed lever for yarn 164 is pressed down with the guide eye 135. As a result, the filling yarn 164 reaches the path of the lagging driver 128. After the leading driver 129 has passed underneath the filling yarn 164", the feed lever for yarn 164" is also down and the filling yarn 164" likewise reaches the path of the lagging driver 128. The latter seizes the two filling yarns 164 and 164" and at first pulls them parallel to the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles and then pulls them out at a right angle to said rows in the shape of a loop (FIGS. 10b and 100).

During this loop-shaped pulling out, the loop sector of the filling yarn 164, running to the thread retarder 145, arrives in front of the left-hand inside thread retarder 146, which now is lowered, while the left-hand outside loop retarder is raised (FIG. 100). As a result, the lefthand thread retarder then releases the filling yarns 164 and 164. The filling yarn 164', however, is held immediately by the left-hand inside thread retarder 146, while the loop-shaped pulled out filling yarn 164 is released completely.

Simultaneously, the right-hand inside thread retarder 147 has also been raised and opens the way for the shooting in of the loop strand of the filling yarn 164, leading to the fabric, into the knitting shed opened toward the rear at this point, where this loop strand arrives below the heads of the rear row 28 of guide needles. In order to assure the shooting in of the filling thread it is possible to arrange metal guide plates 169, if need be, between the inside thread retarders 146, 147 and the front ends of the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles, as indicated in FIG. 9a

at 169 in a broken line. The guide plates will press the filling yarns downward in the final sector of the shooting and move them securely below the heads of the front row of guide needles.

As soon as the loop strand of the filling yarn 164 has been completely shot into the knitting shed, the feed levers with the guide eyes 135 and 135" return to their rest position and the right-hand outside thread retarder 148 is lowered, as shown in FIG. d. As a result, the filling yarns 164 and 164" have now been looped around thread retarder 148 by the driver 128 (which now leads), and they retain this state when the leading driver 128, according to FIG. 10a, releases the filling yarns 164 and 164". After release of these two filling yarns and after driver 128 has passed therebeneath, the guide eye 135 of the filling yarn 164 again is lowered and brings the filling yarn 164 into the path of the lagging driver 129. When subsequently the leading driver 128 has run underneath the filling yarn 164, the guide eye 135' is also lowered and moves this filling yarn likewise into the path of the lagging driver 129, which now pulls out the filling yarns 164 and 164' in the reverse direction, as described below, into a loop (FIG. 10 and at the end of this pulling out movement shoots in the strand 164' of this filling yarn, running to the fabric, into the again rearwardly opened knitting shed. At the same time, the raising and lowering of the thread retarder is repeated in a manner similar to the process described above, so that finally after completion of the shooting in of the filling and renewed running of the drivers 128, 129 toward the right, the state shown in FIG. 10a is again reached.

The preferred direction of rotation of the driving wheels 111, 120, which has been mentioned above in connection with the description of the structure of the device for shooting in the filling, is such that the chains 107, 108 move away inside the looping range of the driving wheels from the rows of guide needles and this assures that the shot in strands of loops of the filling yarn will lie tensed in the knitting shed and that no loose loops of the thread will develop at the edges of the fabric.

For proper functioning of the described device it is important that those filling yarns already extending to the end of the fabric towards which the drivers move always be moved into the path of the lagging driver. Only when this is taken into consideration will these leading filling yarns be resuspended by the lagging driver, from an inner retarder 146 or 147 to the outside thread retarder 145 or 148.

Otherwise, and particularly in the case of use of a larger number of filling yarns with correspondingly nu merous feed levers, one or several filling yarns can be selected simultaneously in any desired sequence for shooting in, and it will not be necessary that the same filling yarn always be shot in twice in succession. Rather, under certain conditions, which one skilled in the art will easily recognize, one can through a suitable selection of the sequence, change the filling yarn, after each shooting in of the filling yarn so that one can operate therefore pic a pic.

Although the invention has been described in consider able detail with respect to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that the invention is capable of numerous modifications and variations apparent to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In flat warp knitting machine of the type having two longitudinally extending rows of curved guide needles facing each other and swivelable around parallel axes and transposable in relation to one another along said axis, which needles produce a links-links warp knitted fabric through reciprocal takeover of stitches, the improvement comprising, a pair of sinker combs extending in the said longitudinal direction and positioned below the rows of needles to receive the formed fabric between them, said combs being movable together back and forth transversely to said longitudinal direction, and wherein the sinker comb which lags during the said transverse movement sloughs the newly formed stitches of the fabric by positively exerting a force thereon, to tighten the said stitches counter to the tension of the incoming thread.

2. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein the heads of the guide needles which contain the needleholes are straight, said rows of guide needles being arranged in relation to one another such that during their swiveling movements the needle heads of one row of needles are continuously directed essentially in parallel to the oppositely directed needle heads of the other row of needles.

3. Warp knitting machine according to claim 2, wherein each guide needle shaft has a root sector and a neck portion in addition to said head, said neck portion being connected to said root sector and said head by two successive oppositely directed curvatures, said two curvatures being limited to two relatively short areas of the needle shafts which otherwise are straight.

4. Warp knitting machine according to claim 3 wherein the said two curvatures of each guide needle have approximately the same radius of curvature.

5. Warp knitting machine according to claim 4 wherein the head and the root sector are substantially parallel to each other and the perpendicular distance from the needle heads to the root sectors of the needle shafts is equal to at least approximately half the distance traversed by the needle heads between their swiveling end positions.

6. Warp knitting machine according to claim 4 wherein the radius of said curvatures are dimensioned in relation to the swiveling speed of the guide needles and to the speed of movement of the sinker combs such that essentially the same rows of stitches remain on the guide needles when the force of the lagging sinker comb is exerted thereon.

7. Warp knitting machine according to claim 2 wherein the distance of the swiveling axes of the rows of guide needles is adapted to be temporarily decreased during the takeover of a new stitch by a guide needle.

8. Warp knitting machine according to claim 7 wherein the swiveling axis of one row of needles is mounted for movement in the direction of the swiveling axis of the other row of needles, and including a cam disc drive means for causing said axial movement.

9. Warp knitting machine according to claim 8 wherein the said cam disc drive means is constructed such that the maximum shifting of the swiveling axis exists at the time of the reciprocal passage of the needle heads through the needle paths of the opposing row of guide needles.

10. Warp knitting machine according to claim 3 wherein the guide needles have a U-shaped profile shaft open toward the outside of the curvatures which profile guides the warp threads running from a supply source to the needle hole in the needle head.

11. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein the sinker combs are arranged on swivelable sinker bars.

12. Warp knitting machine according to claim 11 wherein the longitudinal ends of the sinker bars are attached to swiveling levers which are swivelable about an axis parallel to the swiveling axes of the rows of needles and located in the plane of symmetry of said rows.

13. Warp knitting machine according to claim 12 including a plurality of drawing off rollers for drawing off the finished fabric, and wherein one of the drawing oif rollers serves as a swiveling lever axis for the fabric.

14. Warp knitting machine according to claim 12 including a cam disc drive for operating the swivel levers.

15. Warp knitting machine according to claim 14 wherein the cam disc drive for the swiveling levers of the sinker bars are forced operating drives.

16. Warp knitting machine according to claim 12 wherein the ends of the sinker bars are slidable on tangential guides attached to the swiveling levers, said tangential guides being capable of being clamped down l3 14 in a plurality of transverse positions by attaching means 2,906,109 9/1959 Efiand 661 penetrating through the swiveling levers in elongated 3,143,868 8/ 1964 Palange 661 holes.

17. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1 includ- FOREIGN PATENTS ing a means for shooting-in of filling yarns across the r 44,426 7/1930 Denmark. entire width of the fabric in said longitudinal direction. 0 1,394,743 3/1965 France;

R d 712,506 10/1941 Germany eferences e 334,842 9/1930 Great Britain. UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,286,349 12/1918 Kopp 6687 XR 10 RONALD FELDBAUM, Primary Examiner 1,924,649 8/1933 Morton 6687 XR 

